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"Someone will find a way for offline businesses to acquire customers online, at scale. And because offline businesses are the bulk of the businesses in the world..."

Retailigence is solving part of the puzzle.... but rather than offline to online, the inverse...., i.e., Online to Offline "(O2O) refers to any and all activity that originates online yet eventually results in a shopper going to a physical store."

Right time, right place, right product.... and they just nabbed a new round of funding ($6.3m) today.

@DouglasCrets Agree. I'd love to see a follow up post on what the other companies are doing differently. We're just scratching the surface on what these technologies and companies can actually do; it's worth investigating.

Yes, they are.... VCs have deep rolodexes for staffing across the board, well known. My point is, what about one for potential customers? With the failure rate so great...venture firms should be doing a lot more for their companies than they're currently doing. And I can think of one firm in particular that's doing it and every firm in the valley is watching.... just wondering aloud if the rest know how to emulate it or reinvent themselves...

I'm fascinated by the current state of VC. I want to know what firms are doing new or what future changes are in store for the industry.

Nice piece.... most notably from the standpoint that it's thought provoking. So now what? Let's forget about the top 7 firms and the hundreds dying a slow death.... what emerging models are working in the marketplace or have the potential to? I have a hunch that in order for more firms to be successful they'll have to start rolling up their sleeves and help startups get customers (brands). How many VCs have deep relationships with brands, btw? I hear about VCs calling on potential VP of Sales candidates for startups but not much about them calling up the CMOs of the world.

Excellent piece! You did a great job of answering almost everything question I had before I could ask it.

I do, contrary to your view, believe HP's reputation isn't as badly bruised in market as you do. Yes, it's taken nasty falls with WedOS and the failed tablet... but they have a strong history and brand that can withstand those kinds of blunders...

I think HP's very well positioned to enter the market --- and needs to; Windows seems to be the only realistic option at this point. And Microsoft, as you said, ain't giving up on their OS.

In response to FB conversation: Agreed... both the article and response were well done. Sarah's getting the real deal experience of being an entrepreneur; total roller coaster ride of outside circumstances and inner emotions.Considering your daily grind - thanks again for speaking at Social-Loco.

What's the hurry? Marc and others may be dead-on re: a need for a major staff reduction.... but if you haven't developed your vision for the company yet or are still in process (which is not a necessarily a bad thing), why would you start swinging your sword. --- So far I see a measured and most likely very calculated approach to turning around a monster of a company. Again, don't understand the need to hurry, is it for Wall Street?

And per the startup analogy, "Every startup CEO will tell you one of the most important things to do is fire fast. If Yahoo wants to act like a startup, that’s where it needs to start."

However, I didn't see you touch upon, without a doubt, the most important element to building a "successful" startup, customers; the season for that is 365. You mentioned it, but didn't discuss.

"And because startups eventually need the outside world for things like capital, employees, and customers, startups are affected more by seasonality than is generally appreciated. "

Chasing down customers is essential to building any business. Entrepreneurs need to stop everything from time to time, lift their heads up and listen to customers. I'm not saying they need to dictate your every move or that they know how to solve their business problems... but they do know pain points. And, well, it's an entrepreneur's job to solve those for them, period.

Case in point, there's one very successful LBS startup (which is saying something) who met with a very large potential client once a week for a year as they built out their product. Considering the success of startup not only with the beta customer but with the many companies/clients they've acquired recently its helped them accelerate the problem solving process, gain a competitive advantage and obtain "traction"; music to an investors ears.

I don't know what to think of the show until I see the first episode. That said, If Randi offered you the opportunity to be in "Silicon Valley" to provide your perspective on what the show should be about, would you do it? If the head of privacy at Mozilla had a chance to be in the show to provide insight on an important topic like privacy rights, do you think he'd do it? (loaded question)

Ultimately, the big picture, the Bay Area and entrepreneurship won't change one bit because of a show, period.

" hiring an electrical engineer to lead a social product strikes me as a very Google thing to do. ....maybe they could stand to bring someone in with a background in human psychology, communications,...."

Like ex-Googler, Paul Adams, now of Facebook. ;-) Without a doubt one of our smartest tech social scientist of our times.